'A brilliant and inspirational starter kit for anyone who wants to make a garden to suit their own needs.' - Alan Titchmarsh Although excited by the prospect of moving into their own home for the first time, many people are mystified at the thought of what to do with their outdoor space. Frances Tophill's fuss-free, practical guide shows you how to create a space outside your own back door that's designed by you, built by you and enjoyed by you. Beginning with advice on getting to know your garden - what type of soil you have, what the drainage and light is like - then on getting to know yourself as a gardener - do you want a vegetable patch, an abundance of flowers or simply an extension of your indoor living space? - and then moving on to the practical design, including hard and soft landscaping and building materials and guidance, Frances guides you through different types of plants and how to source and plant them. There is also a section on aftercare, telling you the best way to keep your garden well cared for and easy to maintain throughout the year.

Gardens take many forms, and have a variety of functions. They can serve as spaces of peace and tranquilty, a way to cultivate wildlife, or as places to develop agricultural resources. Globally, gardens have inspired, comforted, and sustained people from all walks of life, and since the Garden of Eden many iconic gardens have inspired great artists, poets, musicians, and writers. In this Very Short Introduction, Gordon Campbell embraces gardens in all their splendour, from parks, and fruit and vegetable gardens to ornamental gardens, and takes the reader on a globe-trotting historical journey through iconic and cultural signposts of gardens from different regions and traditions. Ranging from the gardens of ancient Persia to modern day allotments, he concludes by looking to the future of the garden in the age of global warming, and the adaptive spirit of human innovation. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

'Designer Matt Keightley's first book is a thing of beauty and a valuable source of design inspiration - a stylish guide to a stylish garden.' - Gardens Illustrated Do you want your outdoor space to look as stylish and as well designed as your home? RHS Design Outdoors will give you the ideas and know-how you need to make that happen. Award-winning designer Matt Keightley has curated a collection of 35 gardens, created either by him or by other leading contemporary designers, that will provide the inspiration to transform your outdoor space. Gardeners features include award-winning designers Jo Thompson, Tom Stuart Smith, Tony Woods, Charlotte Rowe and Andrew Wilson. For each case study there is a detailed plan, information on the plants and materials used and a wealth of gorgeous photography by leading garden photographer Marianne Majerus. The designs are organized into five categories: Showstoppers at Home - high-design concepts that are nonetheless achievable; Family-friendly - gardens that incorporate play areas and socialising; Minimalist - spaces with larger areas of hard landscaping and bold, restrained planting; Plants First - gardens where more than half of the outdoor space is planted; and Other Spaces - roof terraces, basement areas and front gardens. This wide array of garden styles means that there is inspiration for all types of garden, and for all types of gardener.

Widely acknowledged as the last great landscape designer of the eighteenth century, Humphry Repton created work that survives as a bridge between the picturesque theory of Capability Brown and the pastoral philosophy of Frederick Law Olmsted. By turns inspired by and in opposition to the grandeur of Brown s estates, Repton s contribution to the British landscape encompassed a tremendous range, from subtle adjustments that emphasised the natural features of the countryside to deliberate interventions that challenged the notion of the picturesque. This remarkable book explores 15 of Repton s most celebrated landscapes from the early maturity of his gardens at Courteenhall and Mulgrave Castle to more adventurous landscapes at Stanage, Brightling, and Endsleigh that would point the way toward how we envision parkland today. With photography by Joe Cornish commissioned specially for the book, and including reproductions of key illustrations and plans for garden design from the famous red books that shed light on Repton s vision and process, this book illuminates some of Britain s most beautiful gardens and parks and the masterful mind behind their creation.